


One Change

by magos186



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 10:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8485801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magos186/pseuds/magos186
Summary: What if Oliver had shown up at Barry's house right before he went back in time?Flash season 2 finale AU.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the scene on Arrow where Barry shows up and apologizes for missing the funeral. I totally wanted Oliver to do the same thing in the Flash finale so this is my version. This was originally going to take place where they trained in season 1 (where Oliver shot Barry), but then I changed the destination. The house is inspired by: http://adorable-home.com/houses/small-beach-house-7167

Barry stood at the window and watched Iris sit next to her brother. He was about to turn and run off when he heard a gruff voice say, “I’m sorry I missed the funeral.” He turned to find Oliver Queen standing at the bottom of the stairs in a leather jacket and jeans. 

“Darhk?” Barry asked.

“Yeah. Go for a ride with me?” Oliver asked, gesturing to his car parked across the street.

“Now’s not really a great time.”

“I know, which is why you’re going for a ride with me,” Oliver insisted. Barry decided to give in rather than waste energy trying to argue with the stubborn man, so the two got into the car and drove off. They didn’t stop driving for eight hours. The younger man fell asleep in the passenger seat about an hour into the trip, the fight with Zoom tiring him out more than he thought. When they reached their destination, the older man shook him awake. They were parked in the driveway of a small, wooden beach house nestled into a seaside cliff, no other houses or roads around. They didn’t go through the front door though. They followed a little stone path around the side of the house to the back deck. There was a freestanding swing bench off to one side, which is where Oliver sat. The younger man sat next to him, the sun rising over the ocean in front of them. “I never told you this," Oliver started, "but Malcolm Merlyn sabotaged the Queen’s Gambit nine years ago. He wanted to kill my father. Everyone else was just collateral damage. He didn’t succeed. My father and I both made it to a life raft. We’d been drifting a few days and we hardly had any supplies, but my father had a gun. He told me he loved me, told me to survive, then looked me in the eye and shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself for me. I took the life vest off him and used it to cover his head and then I drifted in a raft for days with my father's body rotting away a foot away from me. When I got to Lian Yu, the first thing I did was bury him. I didn’t look for help or food or water. I didn’t care what my own body needed. I buried him as best I could with my own two hands. 

“I could never grieve his loss though. On the raft, I didn’t really know how to process what I’d seen. On the island, I’d just finished burying him when I was attacked and from that moment forward I was fighting to live. After I was rescued, Thea showed me his gravestone and it finally hit me. After five years it finally hit me that he was gone. But by then I’d shut down so much that I couldn’t handle it, so I got on my bike and I drove. When I finally pulled over, I was a couple hundred feet from the house. I didn’t notice it. I just sat there on the bike, staring at the water. You’d think after spending so much time on an island that I’d hate the ocean, but it was peaceful. It reminded me of the good nights, good mornings on Lian Yu just listening to the waves against the beach, calming me. I sat there for hours before I noticed this place. It was run down, overgrown, and for sale so I bought it. I worked to fix it up when I had free time. Now I come here when I need to get away; when things get too hard, too emotional to handle. I’ve never brought anyone here before.”

“Not even Felicity?” Barry asked skeptically.

“No. The only one who knows of this place is Diggle and he only has the address in case of emergencies. He was the only person I could connect with when I got back because even though our experiences were different, he understood what I was going through. I understand what you’re going through Barry. Both of my parents have been killed in front of me and both times I was powerless to stop it. I trained every day to become stronger, faster, but no matter what I did, they were both still gone. No matter how much I may want it or how much I dream about it, nothing I do is ever going to bring them back.”

“I already know this,” Barry said softly, his voice quavering.

“And I know you, Barry. You have the power to run back in time. You could go back and stop it all from happening. If I hadn’t shown up when I did, I know that’s what you would have done, but I can’t let you do that. You already went back once to save your mother and your future-self stopped you. He obviously knew something you didn’t. You think if you can just stop that one event, change that one small thing from happening then your life will get better. I can promise you that it won’t. Things might be fine for a few months, but there will be consequences that you can’t foresee. You told me that when you mess with time it doesn’t end well, that time messes back. I know exactly how you’re feeling Barry, but you have to process it. You have to let yourself feel the pain and however long it takes you need to deal with it. You have your friends here, you have Iris and Joe and you have me. I promise to do everything I can to help you through this, but you can’t go back in time. That’s not the solution.”

Barry didn’t say anything, just turned his back to the man, but Oliver could see his shoulder’s shaking. Oliver wrapped his arms around his friend and Barry turned into the embrace, holding the man tightly as he cried. “There’s no one around for miles. You can let your guard down. You can cry and scream and break things, whatever you need to do to help you cope. We are going to stay here and I will be here with you every day for however long that takes. I will be here to help you find a way to move forward. You’re family Barry and there is nothing I won’t do for you.”


End file.
